WATCHFIREThomas E. Marsden, POW/MIA Chairman

September 10-11, 2010, nine years after 9 11, was a se-rious, somber time on the beach front of Seaside Heights. The occasion was the twentieth annual Detachment of New Jersey POW/MIA Watchfire. 250 Legionnaires, Auxiliary, Sons, guests, two honor guards, Lennie Fried singing the National Anthem, a blazing pit of fire, a stirring program, moments of reflection, the reading of names, and flag retirements gave homage to wars’ 90,000+ men and women still unaccounted for. The weather was good; hospitality better; camaraderie the best. The only regret was that our POW/MIA’s still have not been repatriated and brought back home. Although the gov-ernment and its politicians may not consider the POW/MIA’s a priority, we remain committed and persist. We will remember and work on until the full accounting is completed. Thank you Boro of Seaside Heights for the place to gather; PDC Robbins for your advice and expertise; Ocean County for helping from beginning to end; Mike Arner for mak-ing the shirts; Cmdr. Korba for breakfast; Steve Rodriguez for your thoughtful presentation; Ed, Shannon, and Sean McClos-key for being my left hand; my family (Pat., Val, and Randy) for being my right hand; and Bob Loobey and those you brought with you, for your support, presence, and commitment to vets. Mark the third Friday in September, 9/16/2011, for an-other watchfire...same time, same place. It is planned to coin-cide with the national observance of POW-MIA Recognition Day. Do not forget.

MEMBERSHIPPatrick Gallagher, Chairman

Membership is on its first target date. Let’s not fall be-hind. Cmdr. Korba would like NJSAL to go over the top by Legion Birthday, March 2011. That’s under five months away so the membership team needs help. Dept. Cmdr. Loobey wants us as partners. This means membership is every member’s job vs just one man’s. Get out and ask the son of a vet to join the SAL, the wife of a vet to join the auxiliary, and the veteran to join a local post. Our NJSAL needs to push American Legion Family membership. Applications are available through De-partment Headquarters.

THE SALUTETHE NEWSLETTER OF THE DETACHMENT OF NEW JERSEY

EDITOR: THOMAS E. MARSDEN; ASSOCIATE EDITOR: PATRICIA MARSDEN

WWW.NJSALUTE.ORG

VOLUME 49, ISSUE 2

LEGION FAMILY Legion Family is only as good as its leaders. A lot of times, a lot of places, it’s mostly talk, A. L. Cmdr. Loobey is committed to Legionnaires, Auxiliary, and Sons together. He has made Legion Family reality not just words in New Jersey. Our Legion Family is out there well represented. Ev-erywhere from High Point to Veterans Haven to Blue Claws Stadium, it’s three organizations united for the good of veter-ans. The joint commanders’ Vet Haven project shows it.

ADJUTANT’S CORNER Jeffrey E. Hicks, Adjutant

As we embark into the 2010-2011 Sons of the Ameri-can Legion (SAL) administrative year, an important item come to mind--Officer Report Forms. Now, I already know what you’re thinking - more paperwork right? Unfortunately, yes, more paperwork; however these two forms are crucial to our organization’s livelihood. We need you to report. Please let me explain why. Each year throughout the state of New Jersey, every squadron and every county SAL Committee (if established) is required to file an Officer Report Form with Department. The form, issued by Department around the month of May, asks the squadron or county to declare its newly elected officers along with its contact information for the upcoming year. Once the form is filled out, it should be mailed back to Department in Trenton NOT the Detachment Adjutant. This form reveals to the Department and the Detach-ment that your squadron or county’s SAL Committee is still active with leadership in place. Now here’s the catch: If this form does not get filed with Department on an annual basis (and, yes, you still MUST file even though your squadron or county officers have not changed from year to year), you jeopardize your squadron or county’s communications with Department. If Department does not receive your Officer Report Form by October 1 every year, your squadron or county SAL Committee will NOT receive mailings from Department there-after until the form is filed. Enough for now. Note: According to Department as of September 1, 2010, 100 Squadrons (62%) of our Detachment had NOT filed an Officer Report Form and thus are in jeopardy of losing mailings from Department. Could this be you? If so, file your report ASAP so you stay connected to your Department and Detachment.

COMMANDER’S MESSAGE The year has gotten off to a great start. Thank you everyone for your

support and help as we move forward. Over the past year our membership has slipped slightly. I would like to see our membership over 9,000 this year and, with your help, we can get there. Everyone needs to work on finding and retaining members everyday. This is the backbone of our organization, and I can’t stress this enough.

On July 1, Squadron #346 Neptune celebrated its 50th Anniversary. Congratulations, Neptune, and thank you for your contributions to the De-tachment over the years.

July 18 was our BBQ at Veteran’s Haven. Thank you to Kent Hehl and everyone that helped. This was truly an American Legion Family event. Everyone got together and treated the residents to a great time. We need more events like this. July 31 was Jay Gillman’s Testimonial. Thank you, Jay, for a great year and for all you do for Detachment. The Sons of the American Legion’s 39th annual convention was held in Milwaukee, Wiscon-sin, August 27-29. We elected a new commander, David Dew from Plano, Texas. Commander Dew’s slogan for the year is “By their side with honor and pride”, and his emphasis this year is on veteran programs. Joe Gladden from Maryland was elected National Vice Commander East. Congratulations to both these gentlemaen. I look forward to a great year with their leadership. Please keep my Commanders Project in mind. We are purchasing furnishings for 46 new units at Veteran’s Haven. Please give what you can to support this worthy cause. For God and Country, Joe Korba

CALENDAR

Dates to RememberNEC IndDetachment Meeting, Trenton October 16, 2010Membership target 25% October 20, 2010Membership target 35% November 17, 2010Detachment Meeting, Trenton December 4, 2010Membership Target 45% December 8, 2010

Detachment Officers 10-11Commander:Joe Korbavckorba@njsal.org

Vice Commanders:Dave Haring haring@njsal.org

Phil Boydboyd@njsal.org

Brett Stadtlerstadtler@njsal.org

Harold Houseworthhouseworth@njsal.org

Matt Biedabieda@njsal.org

Adjutant:Jeff Hickshicks@njsal.org

Judge Advocate:Carl W. Albern , Jr.nec@njsal.org

Chaplain:Carl Kline chaplain@njsal.org

Historian:Don Ashenbrenerashenbrener@njsal.org

Sgt-at-Arms:Kermit RileyEdward DownsLenny FreeWilliam Lanham

Asst. Sgt-at-Arms:Arthur Wanke

NEC:Kent Hehlhehl@njsal.org

ANEC:Gary Nelsonnelson@njsal.org

WWW.NJSAL.ORGWWW.NJSALUTE.ORG

DEADLINE FOR NEXT SALUTE IS OCTOBER 31, 2010

SQUADRON EVERLASTINGEdward T. Marsden, Past National Chaplain

Robert M. Barth Charles LukeKevin Bayard Russel E. MaillardEdward F. Brady Michael MeadJohn Bushell, Sr. Richard MoczynskiEdward Caldaza Andrew NikitukFrancis Campion Charles OlsenFrancis E. Carney Robert OndrofRichard Caufield Michael A. OrlickTravis Clements James G. OutwaterE. Daryl Coddington Tom PauserRobert K. Connelly Christopher J. PayneRodney Crutchley Chris Payne, Sr.Matthew J. Davnport Horace G. PeconeKenneth M. Esposito, Sr. Carl E. PetersonFred Faul William R. Pfaff, Jr.Dominick A. Fischkelta Forrest F. PhyllipsJames M. Floersch Walter S. RafalkoJames R. Forest, Jr. Robert J. RennerWilliam Freda Michael W. RichvalskyRicky S. Ghetti Craig R. RobinsonRobert J. Goham Robert C. RolafWalter Griggs, Jr. David RooneyGeorge Hanson Ralph R. SaulerRobert Haugen James F. ScarponeRandy Hitchings Roy D. ScullyJames B. Hoffman Anthony F. ShayCharlews F. Hudnall Frank J. Siwy, Jr.Philip T. Hussa John S. Splain, Jr.Philip A. Ignatuk Gerald TarinoChristopher J. Iselin Michael O’TooneRobert Johnston George A. TothLouis Kessell, Jr. Charles E. TuckerJoseph Kober Daniel H. UferCalvin Kraus Joesph B. UferAndrew M. Krisinski Jospeh O. Van FleetRichard E. Lacourse Glen VantuylJohn J. Leneghan George R. VogtKeith Lind Stephen K. WaltersKevin Lind Steve WartelskyKris Lind Frederick WesselGary E. Loehr Tesean E. D. WilliamsNicholas R. Lombardo Thomas A. Zalusky, Sr.

EDITOR’S DESK It is with great pride that I announce that the SALute has won the 2010 George W. Hooten Publication Award at the Milwaukee American Legion National Convention. The news-paper placed third in judging. First was garnered by Hossier Auxiliary News and second by The Auxiliare. Since the SA-Lute was published only three times in 2009-2010, this effected the judging. This is the fourth national award the SALute has re-ceived from NALPA. Previous awards were 2005 (third place), 2008 (third place), and 2009 (second place). Since 2003, it has also garnered eleven awards from New Jersey’s American Le-gion Press Association . I regret this issue does not have an article from Carl Albern on NVCE Joe Gladden. Mike Arner’s editorial has been postponed until the next issue.

SAL NATIONAL CONVENTION RESULTSKent Hehl, 2008-2010 ANEC

The Milwaukee SAL National Convention had the larg-est attendance ever. A total of 863 delegates from 51 of 53 de-tachments were there just 7 short of 100%. Jay Gilman, PDC, led the New Jersey delegation registering 20 delegates with 10 in attendance. New national officers were elected then sworn in. They are Cmdr. David Dew of Sq. 321, Plano, TX; Vice Cmdr. East Joe Gladden of Perry Hall, MD (our VC); Vice Cmdr. South Camille LeJunem Jr. of Ventress, LA; Vice Cmdr. Midwest Jerry Leopold McPherson of KS; Vice Cmdr. Central Patrick Gryskiewicz of Merrill, WI; Vice Cmdr. West Mark Cohen of Twin Falls, ID; and Chaplain G. D. Hendrix of Newmark, GA. Two resolutions were passed at convention. The first establishing the George B. Evans Grassroots Veteran Advocate of the Year Award gave the award to George B. Evans posthu-mously. The second made national chaplain an appointed in-stead of elected office taking politics out of a spiritual position.

SAL NATIONAL CONVENTION DOINGS Jay Gilman, PDC Delegate Chair

The 39th National Convention of the Sons of the Ameri-can Legion was held at the Frontier Airlines Center in Milwau-kee, Wisconsin, August 27-29, 2010. It was dedicated to the memory of PNC Richard Kepler (AZ) and SAL National Chap-lain Atwood Granberry (CA). Both gentlemen passed away this year. Many programs received donations. The Child Wel-fare Foundation continues to be the most supported. The SAL’s $540,000, with $40,00 of it from convention delegates like our own Sq. 102 ($1,000), Sq. 84 ($1,000), and PDC Frank Jiosi, Jr. ($50), set a record high. Two awards were won by Detachment. One was for exceeding 90% in membership. The other was for achieving and exceeding $1.00 per member to CWF. Congratulations and best wishes to SAL National Com-mander Arnison and his staff for a year of service. Congratu-lations and best wishes to the newly elected SAL National of-ficers.

GOD BLESS THE VETERANSToby Houseworth

August 2, 2010, the Post 194 Florence Legion Family went to Vineland Veterans Home to put on a BBQ. The residents enjoyed hot dogs, hamburgers, cheese burgers, potato salad, and fresh fruit. The high point came when the post gave out Legion hats. The veterans in the picnic grove were all smiles.

YOUNG CITIZENS AWARD Patrick Gallagher

The committee is working on getting the application on the NJSAL.ORG web site. Please let fire companies, first aid squads, medical centers, the Salvation Army, etc., with youth groups know about this award. Eligibility requires the high school student be 16-18 and NOT a member of the American Legion Family.

The world cried with us that fateful day.

The Tear Drop Monument stands 100 feet high at the Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor,formerly Military Ocean Terminal. The monument, the size of a ten story building,lines up with the Statue of Liberty and is in direct view of the former World Trade Center site. It it has the names of those killed 9 11 at its base. Groundbreaking began in 2005 and it was dedicated on the fifth anniversary of 9 11 a year later. Artist Zurab Yereseteil made it as a gift from Russia and as a statement against terrorism.